


ridin' past the best, and there's still no rest (and there's still no rest)

by ghoulfuckery (PomTheHobbit)



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Character Study, Gen, POV Zelda (Legend of Zelda), multiple zeldas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24762184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PomTheHobbit/pseuds/ghoulfuckery
Summary: There’s something to be said about standing together with an ancestor, another of Hylia’s princesses, as she watches Ganon tear apart its own body in a frenzied attempt to escape.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	ridin' past the best, and there's still no rest (and there's still no rest)

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from orville peck's 'No glory in the West'

She's exhausted, or at least she thinks is. Exhaustion is a nebulous sort of thing in this not-world. Physically she doesn't even exist, but she aches, aches like she's run the distance of Hyrule and back. Around her, the castle-that-doesn’t-exist thunders and roars, slowly falling under the onslaught of the fight between her and Calamity Ganon in their strange bubble world. 

It screams at her in a thousand voices, and the world goes topsy turvy. Around them, water has begun to pour from the windows and doors. Zelda braces herself, but the expected blow never comes.

Instead, a beautiful golden arrow has lodged itself in Ganon, and it screams again, writhing in pain. A small hand touches hers, and the feeling of physical contact is so startling she jerks her hand away. The hand rests on hers again, and she looks to its owner. 

It’s a young girl, her skin sun-dark and her hair more blonde than Zelda’s. She smiles at Zelda, and suddenly, Zelda knows who she is. 

There’s something to be said about standing together with an ancestor, another of Hylia’s princesses, as she watch Ganon tear apart its own body in a frenzied attempt to escape. Ganon thrashes, unable to pull the shimmering arrow from it. The princess of the sea holds Zelda’s hand, her palm so small it barely wraps around hers.

“It won’t be for very long,” she says, still gazing at Ganon. “But I thought I could help you, even if just for a little while. Just a moment to rest. You still have a long while to go.” 

Together they stand, hand in hand, and when Ganon tears the arrow from it with shattered teeth, the princess of the sea squeezes Zelda’s hand. 

“You’ve got this.”

Ganon lunges forward, and so does Zelda, and on the battles continues. She hurls balls of light at it, and it devours them, its gluttonous maw ever chewing. The light burns at its mouth, but it barely seems to phase it, and onwards it goes, even as the light tries to kill it from the inside. 

And so it goes.

They fall together in the air, Zelda’s body nothing more than a stream of light twining with the stain of Ganon. It tears at her, ripping off memories into the dark until;

A golden bird beats back Ganon, her long talons ripping at it. Zelda falls, the air silent around her. She slows, and soon floats on her back, watching the battle between Ganon and the luminous bird, as they clash like lightning in the sky. A girl floats above her, pale gold hair wreathing around her like a halo. Her smile is gentle, and briefly, Zelda can hear the murmuring strains of a harp. 

“How many of you will I see?” Zelda says, and the daughter of the skies shrugs.

“However many of us it will take,” she replies, and the sound of the harp gets louder. “They like to make noises about how each one of us should handle our burden alone, but really, if the Hero gets help, why shouldn’t you?” 

The bird shrieks and falls, golden blood pouring from a widening gap in her neck. The daughter of the skies looks irritated, and the harp becomes angry. Twanging strums fill the air, and Ganon writhes directionless in the storming skies; the wound where the golden arrow hit has not healed and it throws burning blood into the air, steaming and hissing as it flows down Ganon’s body.

The daughter of the skies drifts closer to Zelda and holds her face. Momentary sadness crosses her face, and she leans her forehead against Zelda’s.

“You’re stronger than you think. You’ve gotten this far, haven’t you?”

And they fall, Ganon surging towards her with unbridled hate. 

The harp accompanies her as Calamity Ganon makes the seas boil, as the deserts turn to glass; it twines around her, shielding her from the percussive blasts of energy. They trade blows in a temple turned to ruin, and then;

The sound of a woodwind; no- an ocarina plays and Ganon slows, its claws moving sluggishly, and then not at all.

A boy, a girl, a warrior sits cross-legged on ruined stone. They look at Zelda with Shekiah-red eyes, with crystal clear blue eyes, and they smile. Holding the ocarina to their mouth, they play another song, one that brings the wind and the rain; a storm.

The child of time watches as the immobile form of Ganon shrieks with rage when the pelting rain hits it. They hold their hand out to Zelda, and she takes it. Warmth fills her, and for a moment, the tiredness leaves her, the ever constant ache.

“It’s not much,” they say, their voice soft. “But it is as much as I can give you, and I hope it will carry you far.” 

Rain sluices off of Ganon’s form, washing away filth and an ever-constant layer of grime. It’s moving faster now, pushing against the wind of the storm, howling in a thousand tongues. It promises retribution and hate, and the child of time shakes their head, sadness flitting through their eyes.

“Please,” they say as they drop Zelda’s hand. “Keep going. You’re so close.”

The storm breaks.

Zelda screams as Ganon digs its claws into her, her soul. Foul miasma seeps into her wounds, burning her; it hurts as nothing has before. But Ganon hasn’t recovered from the ocarina and its slowing melody and so she squirms out of its grip as the world grows shuttered and dark.

It hisses at her, prowling in a circle, but;

One arm crashes into it, and then another, and another, _and another_ -

A luminous creature, shimmering like oil wraps itself around it and brings Ganon to the ground. It wields a trident, and it drives it into Ganon, pinning it to the black earth.

She smells sweet iron, and a hand touches her shoulder. She turns, and an impossibly tall woman stands beside her. Her hair is red, but it is not. She wears a purple dress, but no- it’s black so dark that no shadows can be seen on it. Her eyes are blue but shine gold.

The twilight princess watches Ganon squirm with an impassive look on her face. 

“Show no hesitation. Show no mercy. When the time comes,” she says as she turns to Zelda. “You throw this godsdamned monster right back where it came from.”

Zelda feels warmth where the twilight princesses hand touches her, a firm clasp. A thin and despairing scream rips from the creature as Ganon consumes it and grasps the trident. The golden metal disintegrates in its hand but melts the flesh, and it wails, the sound ear rending and terrible. 

“Now go,” says the princess. “Save Hyrule.”

Together, she and Ganon fall again, and they twine together so closely that they’re almost one. She can feel its hate, feel the burning rage, feel the strange and all-consuming desperate need for _more_ that flows through it. It wants power, it wants revenge, it wants _her._ To take her and use her as a conduit, to get the thing it wants more than any being ever has.

Zelda almost weeps with the desire Calamity Ganon feels for the Triforce.

Time loses meaning again. 

But she hears the strum of the harp, smells sweet iron, feels the cool press of a golden bow in her hands.

Link’s awakening might be centuries away, but she is not alone. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i think zelda should have more fics where she vibes with the other zeldas. as a treat. thanks 4 reading love u. find me on tumblr or twitter @bogfern


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